Is it unseemly for teachers to strike for higher pay? Is it inappropriate behavior?
Some people think so.
“It’s not a good look on a master’s degree. It’s beneath them. However, it’s not beneath them to qualify for food stamps or use food pantries or wait tables or drive uber or mow lawns or sell blood or quietly scratch for survival under unfair wages. It’s not beneath them to teach on broken chairs out of ripped up books. That’s kind of noble. (Give those teachers an apple.) But unseemly demands? Pressure upon politicians? Coming out en masse? Inconvenience? No, no, no. Take that exploitation quietly and with forbearance.”
Advice to teachers, with or without a master’s degree or a doctorate: Just do it. God helps those who help themselveslves. You know your legislators. They will give you nothing unless you pressure them and embarrass them. The lobbyists are squeezing tax breaks out of them. Bring your collective strength to the table. Ignore the naysayers. Continue the struggle. And know that millions of people are with you.
Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
Dr. Martin Luther King
“Fire hoses can’t deal with a million people … Dogs can’t bite a million people.” — The Atlantic
OEA Pres. Alicia Priest:
“Educators across Oklahoma have said, ‘Enough!’ Their frustration is justified, but that frustration — because of years of broken promises — turned into courage, and that courage turned into energy, and that energy into momentum, and that momentum created this moment that forced that legislature to act.” — FB Video
(Quoted yesterday by Michael Klonsky)
Diane Ravitch's blog 
How sad that it has come to this. I got a master’s degree so that I’d be paid higher on the pay scale. It, plus graduate hours, was enough to barely [BARELY] survive. From what I’m reading life for teachers has gotten worse than when I was in the classroom.
We all need to stand up against politicians who want tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations but have no problem demeaning hard working teachers. Shame on the whole lot that keep telling us how much better life is now that taxes have been cut.
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Teachers are in a no win situation with these far right wing libertarians and school “reformers.” If the teachers do nothing and continue with the status quo, they will be demeaned and pounded into the dust. If the teachers strike back for better wages and working conditions, they at least stand a chance of winning some crumbs but they will still be demonized and defamed. That’s standard operating procedure for America: trash public school teachers 24/7/365.
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Frankly, I am surprised that the teachers have been so patient with the intolerable working conditions, stagnant, low wages and demeaning attitudes of the politicians. Teachers need to be paid a living wage. If the state refuses to be reasonable, escalate those demands. When impasse is the result, walk out. These job actions are not the result of uncaring teachers. They are the result of hard working professionals that have been ignored and demeaned by a callous government.
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Amen!
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The walkout is just the first step, and based on the disgusting behavior of the other red state legislatures after the fact, the next step has to be to for teachers to run as candidates and say VOTE THEM OUT! to all the dead, rotten wood in their state legislature.
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Great article!
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What is unseemly is for people to complain about “…the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Moreover, as John Lewis once paraphrased Hillel, “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”
Or, as I would say, “Good on ya, teachers! We support you!”
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Here’s my advice, for what it’s worth, to everyone that has to work for a living. If you aren’t paid enough to eat and provide a safe shelter for you and/or your family, then organize, protest and strike.
If you are a millionaire or billionaire that inherited your wealth, you do not know what it means to have to work so you can eat and afford a safe place to live for you and/or your family. You have no right to think you understand what its like for the rest of us. You have no right to decide what’s best for us. You have no right to manipulate public opinion with your cherry picking of facts and lies. You should be muzzled and controlled like a dangerous lunatic when you do think you have that right.
Why should you be muzzled and controlled as if you are a danger to everyone else on the planet?
For those that have to work to survive because they weren’t fortunate enough to earn a fortune on their own (often by being more ruthless and sneaky than the competition) or inherited one they didn’t create on their own (Koch brothers, Walton family, Betsy DeVos, et al.), then it doesn’t matter what education level you have. You deserve a living wage and benefits so if you don’t earn a living wage with benefits, you have the right to protest and strike. You have a right to riot. You have a right to rebel against a corrupt government just like the U.S. Founding Fathers did when they wrote the Declaration of Independence and sent a copy to King George.
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Unseemly to strike for higher pay?
It is unseemly for teachers to take any pay at all.
They should work for nothing — or better yet, pay for the privilege to teach.
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Tongue in cheek — yes, teaching is a privilege so they should all teach for free and give up sleep so they can work two full-time jobs after teaching. The swing shift will be at a fast food restaurant or preferably a Trader Joes, and the graveyard will be stocking shelves after hours at Costo, Home Depot, or Lowes. During the summer, when they aren’t teaching, that will free up the days to work at an amusement park or to mow lawns.
Teachers will have to hope they land a 2nd or 3rd job that will include health care for their families since it won’t come through the schools. That leaves out Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and the fast food industry. I don’t know if Home Depot and Lowes offer reasonable health care for their employees.
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What you describe facetiously (I take it) is reality for some. For many years while a public school high school English teacher, I worked all summer long or I went to finish a master’s degree…left my family and spent nearly two months a summer studying C&I Literacy. For that, I had a board member scold me once for “taking more of the taxpayers’ money” because I had switched ladders in the master agreement pay schedule with my graduate degree. The central issues lie around control and distrust for an educated population that refuses to fit into the machine….
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(with) tongue in cheek
phrase of tongue
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Always proud when you link to anything I’ve written. I hope that this new time will empower teachers and inspire the public in general to fight for justice in all the ways that fight must manifest. Thank you always.
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“The strikes feel very lineworker to me”?
Well- I guess now we know how ed reformers feel about line workers!
Low class. Worthy of contempt.
The snobbery of ed reformers is WAY underappreciated. It runs thru a lot of this stuff.
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I don’t care how ed reformers see teachers. Teachers work for their students and communities. As a veteran of a strike and someone that supported many other teachers involved in labor conflicts, I am proud to be associated with workers seeking justice regardless of any snide, elitist comments from privatization wonks.
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Another, AMEN, retired teacher.
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The teachers are striking in Oklahoma partly because the thousands of people who call themselves “education advocates” (and are paid as education advocates) completely and utterly ignore US public schools.
Why is it lawmakers didn’t know these schools were falling apart?
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All those ed reform orgs and paid ed reform advocates and no one noticed the public schools in Oklahoma, West Virginia and Arizona were collapsing as result of neglect?
90% of kids who attend public schools are not the concern of people who call themselves public education experts?
I know they’re shocked these teachers went out. The question is WHY they’re shocked. They didn’t know how bad things had gotten in these states? Why not? This is their JOB.
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No one should have to take a vow of poverty to be a teacher. I have relatives who were teachers. I certainly believe that teachers deserve a “living wage”. Who could be opposed?
Nevertheless, the recent spate of teacher strikes, should show everyone, why there needs to be alternatives to having the government run the schools. The government is not able to pay an adequate wage to school teachers ( at least in the states where teachers are striking). I would wager, that teachers in other states, could do with a boost in pay, as well.
How about bringing in alternatives to the public schools? Give parents the choice to withdraw their children from schools, that can’t even figure out how to pay a decent salary/benefits.
Government is not like “Yoda”, a wise and all-knowing benign entity, that always knows exactly how to do everything right. Governments have been known to mess things up.
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Charles, teachers are paid less in voucher schools and don’t stay long enough in charters to need a pension. School choice does not raise salaries.
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No dispute here. Non-public school teachers make less (on average) than public school teachers. see
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/why-are-private-school-teachers-paid-less-than-public-school-teachers/280829/
Roman Catholic nuns and priests do not receive any salary. Still. many Roman Catholic schools turn out a superior education.
Giving parents alternatives to public schools, will result in some of them sending their children to schools which pay their teachers less.
As long as “buyer” and “seller” are satisfied, I have no problem with this.
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Catholic schools today are seldom staffed by nuns, brothers, and priests. They have mostly lay teachers, some of whom belong to unions to get higher pay. When Catholic schools had free labor of religious, the elementary schools were free.
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Charles: I quit working in one school district in Illinois because I was going to be placed in a fourth grade classroom and given no planning time. I figured that as a music specialist that would overwhelm me. I’d never taught classroom work even though I’d gone to school to get qualified.
A distant relative in New Jersey offered to let me stay with their family and look for a job. The only one I could find was working in a Catholic school teaching music. They offered me a salary of $12,500. I had a master’s degree with graduate hours. There was no way that I could survive on that.
I am appalled at the salaries that teachers in both public and nonpublic schools are making. It is scrapping the bottom of the bucket to work in nonpublic schools and must be for those who are desperate. It is one step away from being on the streets.
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“Roman Catholic nuns and priests do not receive any salary. Still. many Roman Catholic schools turn out a superior education.”
But the Church provides room and board for priests and nuns and every week at mass a basket is held out on the end of a long poll for Cathl8ics that attend mass to donate money to help pay for that room and board. Priests and nuns are also not married and do not have children to support. They don’t have rent to pay. They don’t buy homes. They don’t need to buy food.
However, there aren’t enough priests and nuns to teach all the children, so the Church hires teachers and those teachers are paid.
Job Title Salary
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/catholic-school-teacher-salary-SRCH_KO0,23.htm
Although I’m not a Catholic anymore, I was one as a child and attended Catholic schools where the same codes and legislation that apply to public schools don’t apply. My knuckles and knees can attest to the ruler wacks and the hours kneeling in the classroom corner praying for forgiveness because I wasn’t a “perfect” student at age 5.
The Catholic Church manufacturers sin so Catholics always have plenty of sins to be forgiven for each week and that means attending mass each Sunday so you’re there to drop money in the basket.
And “Nuns getting harder to find in Catholic schools”
“WEST POINT — Twenty-five years ago, having a nun for a teacher or principal was as common to Catholic schools as daily prayer.
“Few were better at building morals and character, challenging students to consider the world beyond the classroom or reminding them that tucking in one’s shirt was a rule that civilized people followed.
“With a shortage of nuns, however, there are fewer Catholic schools that have them as instructors. …”
http://norfolkdailynews.com/news/nuns-getting-harder-to-find-in-catholic-schools/article_80317afc-10b4-11e3-8a59-001a4bcf6878.html
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And generally, “choice teachers'” benefits, if they have any at all, are terrible.
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Read the article I posted. Teachers in non-public schools (generally) earn less in salary, and have fewer benefits than unionized teachers in publicly-operated schools, no doubt.
BUT- Teachers in non-public schools, generally have smaller classes (16:1 vs 20:1 for public schools). Teachers in non-public schools get more respect from the students, and do not have to deal with the administrative burden that any government job entails.
Furthermore, there are fewer discipline problems in non-public schools, more parental involvement, and fewer of the host of problems that public school teachers face.
Non-public schools are safer as well, disruptive students are expelled. Has anyone noticed that virtually all of the recent school shootings have occurred in public schools?
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Nonpublic schools can exclude or kick out the students they don’t want. Where should they go?
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As you know from reading this blog, many charters mess up, much fraud, abuse of taxpayers and waste. More money spent on administration than on teachers.
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And corporations don’t go around messing up things for profit?
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No one claims that corporations and CEOs are saints.
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Charles,
I notice you have started claiming that children are “trapped” in their local public school. Sorry, that’s the venom spewed by public school haters. Post it elsewhere, not here.
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Michael Brown, a brilliant African American student, did not go to Kipp or ‘Mom and Pop’s Holy High School’ where he could have been taught creationism. Instead, he stayed in Lamar High School where he was accepted and given a full ride at twenty outstanding universities.https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/30/health/teen-college-20-acceptances-trnd/index.html
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I am not a public school hater. The public schools here in Fairfax VA , are some of the finest in the nation.
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Charles,
You have commented here hundreds of times. You constantly refer to our nation’s “failing” public schools (they educated you so maybe you went to dreadful public schools because you lack any gratitude). You have constantly written about children “trapped” in public schools. That’s the language of a public school hater. You are a public school hater. Own it.
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Not many charter schools competing for tax dollars in Fairfax, VA.
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Q Not many charter schools competing for tax dollars in Fairfax, VA. END Q
@gitapik: Virginia does not yet have a school choice program in place. The people’s legislature keeps passing bills with school choice plans, and the governors keep vetoing the legislation. A clear majority of the citizens continue to elect delegates who favor school choice, but there is no school choice here. (An example of having one foot on the accelerator, and one foot on the brake).
There are currently eight(8) charter schools operating in Virginia. see
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/charter_schools/charter_schools.shtml
The excellent public schools here in Fairfax county, make the need for charters, virtually non-existent.
Now, if only all of America’s children had excellent public schools, the demand for charters would disappear.
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If everyone in America had a good income, all schools would be successful. But half the children in public schools qualify for free or reduced price lunch. They are poor. The cause of low scores is poverty..
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“Now, if only all of America’s children had excellent public schools, the demand for charters would disappear.”
This is where the disconnect lies.
If I can piggy back off of Diane’s spot on reply:
I’ve taught in those “failing” schools. I’ve locked the door and put a piece of construction paper over the window while the kids from the first floor who’ve set up their time and rendezvous are ransacking the bulletin boards and throwing glass bottles against the walls and doors of our 5th floor special ed wing.
I’ve had parent teacher nights when nobody showed up. For years on end. Sometimes for lack of caring and other times because nobody wants to be going home after dark on the streets of their neighborhoods.
I’ve had parents and kids tell me that they sit on the floor at night for fear of random gunfire from the gangs.
I’ve been mugged on the way to lunch.
And much, much, much more.
Why do YOU think all of America’s children don’t have excellent public schools, Charles? Why can’t every school be like the ones in Fairfax, VA? Or Westchester County, NY?
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I find that somewhat simplistic. Poverty, money, income are important of course. Good schools do not come cheap.
But there is more to education than dollars. Family involvement, parental support, crime, safety in the neighborhood, nutrition, all of these and more impact on the education of a child.
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Q Why do YOU think all of America’s children don’t have excellent public schools, Charles? Why can’t every school be like the ones in Fairfax, VA? Or Westchester County, NY? END Q
I think your answer speaks for itself. And my answer as well. There are many reasons, why some areas have excellent schools, and some areas have very bad public schools. Of course money and financial resources are important. Good schools aren’t cheap. Cheap schools aren’t good.
As I stated: Parental involvement, crime, drugs, safety, home environment, nutrition, and on and on. There is no one “magic bullet”.
Come to WashDC metro. It is truly a “Tale of Two Cities”.
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But, Charles, DC has choice! Almost half the kids are in charter schools! There is a federally funded voucher program that has received low marks.
All that choice and the schools are still not working. How can that be?
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I reject the allegations of “bad public schools” and “good public schools”. Both of these terms are as misleading as the “school to prison pipeline”.
All three or total BS.
Global evidence shows that schools with students that don’t learn mostly come from poverty. That doesn’t mean all the schools those students attend are bad. What it tells us is that poverty is bad when it comes to a child learning in school.
The proper phrases should be “Poverty to Prison pipeline” and “poverty is a major cause of students performing badly in schools”.
The evidence is overwhelming:
“There is an achievement gap between more and less disadvantaged students (that live in poverty) in every country; surprisingly, that gap is smaller in the United States than in similar post-industrial countries, and not much larger than in the very highest scoring countries.”
https://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/january/test-scores-ranking-011513.html
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Everything you mention in that last paragraph is all too often the result of what you mention in the first paragraph as being “simplistic”:
“Poverty, money, income are important of course.”
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To make it clearer, Charles:
“Family involvement, parental support, crime, safety in the neighborhood, nutrition, all of these and more impact on the education of a child.”
N
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Sorry..pressed the enter button too soon.
All of those points have huge impacts on the education of a child, teen, and/or adult. No question.
Many who come from impoverished neighborhoods have to deal with crime, dangerous neighborhoods, malnutrition, lack of parental involvement, and more on a daily basis. They are at a disadvantage, as are the public schools that serve those areas.
While it’s true that some charter schools might help in these situations (not a given, by any means), it’s also true that the kids who are not accepted (the majority…many of whom may have quite a bit to offer) or have been cast off as “not cutting it”, are ending up being placed in schools with even less funding than before. Many of these schools are overcrowded due to closures of the “failing schools”, making a difficult situation even worse.
“There is no magic bullet”, is right. Citing “school choice” as the answer comes across as a “magic bullet”; though that may not be your intention.
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Q But, Charles, DC has choice! Almost half the kids are in charter schools! There is a federally funded voucher program that has received low marks.
All that choice and the schools are still not working. How can that be? END Q
Read my post. Q Come to WashDC metro. It is truly a “Tale of Two Cities”. END Q
I said come to WashDC METRO area. The District of Columbia has some alternate schools, to be sure. There is a long waiting list to get into the better schools. There is a lottery system for spaces in the better schools. see
http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/21/antwan-wilson-dc-school-chancellor-steps-down/
There are many problems with the school system in WashDC (CITY). see
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/19/dc-school-cheating-scandals-worsening/
The surrounding suburban counties of Montgomery county Maryland and Fairfax VA, have excellent public schools. see
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia
The “tale of two cities” is the city of WashDC, and the surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia. It is the best of times and the worst of times.
Prince George’s County MD, has many scandals and problems. See
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/shake-up-at-maryland-high-school-after-grading-scandal/2018/01/22/497f247a-ffb9-11e7-8acf-ad2991367d9d_story.html?utm_term=.ee5a9bc41b24
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Q “There is no magic bullet”, is right. Citing “school choice” as the answer comes across as a “magic bullet”; though that may not be your intention. END Q
Amen and Amen. No one, not even the most passionate proponents of school choice, believes that school choice is going to take us all to the promised land. The problems facing our educational system in the 21st century are immense.
In order to maintain our economic status, and our position as a superpower, we must have an educated citizenry.
Why can’t people work together, in the common interests of all citizens, and build an educational system, that is second to none?
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. – John F. Kennedy.
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Teachers must speak out and demand a living wage!
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My California school posted a bulletin in the office today to “help” teachers apply for welfare.
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Your school is just taking a tip from the Walton family business management philosophy.
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You beat me to it. I’ve read several times that Wal-Mart teachers their poverty wage paid employees without any benefits how to apply for food stamps and other forms of welfare so they can survive.
As much as the far right and GOP hates welfare, they are the major engine that forces working people that are paid poverty wages to apply for welfare.
“Well, Walmart isn’t paying for those food stamps (now called SNAP), you are. The annual bill that states and the federal government foot for working families making poverty-level wages is $153 billion. A single Walmart Supercenter costs taxpayers between $904,542 and $1.75 million per year in public assistance money.Feb 16, 2016”
“Walmart Wages Are the Main Reason People Depend on Food Stamps”
https://www.thenation.com/article/walmart-wages-are-the-main-reason-people-depend-on-food-stamps/
Report: Walmart Workers Cost Taxpayers $6.2 Billion In Public Assistance
https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/04/15/report-walmart-workers-cost-taxpayers-6-2-billion-in-public-assistance/#3a7d0f70720b
Walmart Could Lose $12.7 Billion in Sales Over Next Decade if Food Stamps Are Slashed
http://fortune.com/2017/06/30/walmart-food-stamp/
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Thanks for the links, Lloyd!
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“My California school posted a bulletin in the office today to “help” teachers apply for welfare.”
Was this a tongue in cheek gesture or serious?
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“The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America commits itself to advocacy with corporations, businesses, congregations and church-related institutions to protect the rights of workers, support the collective bargaining process, and protect the right to strike.”
The Evangelical Lutheran Church has held that stance ever since adopting the resolution at its 1991 Churchwide Assembly, and it is not alone: Mainstream Christian churches of varying denominations and the Central Conference of American Rabbis all support unions. Here are some of these churches official stances:
CATHOLIC CHURCH — UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS, Pastoral Letter “Economic Justice for All,” 1986: “The [Catholic] Church fully supports the right of workers to form unions or other associations to secure their rights to fair wages and working conditions. This is a specific application of the more general right to associate [this makes unionizing a constitutional right under the First Amendment right of freedom to form associations]. No one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself. Therefore, we firmly oppose organized efforts — such as those regrettably seen in this country — to break existing unions or prevent workers from organizing.”
POPE BENEDICT XVI, “Caritas in Veritate,” 2009: “Governments, for reasons of economic utility, often limit the freedom or the negotiating capacity of labor unions. The repeated calls issued within the Church’s social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum, for the promotion of workers’ associations that can defend their rights must therefore be honored today even more than in the past.”
AMERICAN BAPTIST CHURCHES in the U.S.A. Resolution, 1981: “We reaffirm our position that workers have the right to organize by a free and democratic vote of the workers involved.”
CENTRAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN RABBIS, Preamble to the Workplace Fairness Resolution, adopted at the 104th Annual Convention, June 1993: “Jewish leaders, along with our Catholic and Protestant counterparts, have always supported the labor movement and the rights of employees to form unions for the purpose of engaging in collective bargaining and attaining fairness in the workplace. We believe that the permanent replacement of striking workers upsets the balance of power needed for collective bargaining, destroys the dignity of working people and undermines the democratic values of this nation.”
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, Resolution on the Church and Labor, 1938: “We believe in the right of laboring men to organize for protection against unjust conditions and to secure a more adequate share of the fruits of the toil.”
CHRISTIAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH Discipline doctrine, adopted 1982: “Free collective bargaining has proved its value in our free society whenever the parties engaged in collective bargaining have acted in good faith to reach equitable and moral solutions of problems dealing with wages and working conditions.”
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH U.S.A, “Principles of Vocation and Work,” adopted at General Assembly, 1995: “Justice demands that social institutions guarantee all persons the opportunity to participate actively in economic decision making that affects them. All workers — including undocumented, migrant and farm workers — have the right to choose to organize for the purposes of collective bargaining.”
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOCIATION OF CONGREGATIONS, adopted at General Assembly, 1997: “The Unitarian Universalist Association urges its member congregations and individual Unitarian Universalists in the United States… to work specifically in favor of mechanisms such as: reform of labor legislation and employment standards to provide greater protection for workers, including the right to organize and bargain collectively, protection from unsafe working conditions and protections from unjust dismissal.”
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, “Resolution Affirming Democratic Principles in an Emerging Global Economy,” adopted at 21st General Synod, 1997: “The 21st General Synod reaffirms the heritage of the United Church of Christ as an advocate for democratic, participatory and inclusive economic policies in both public and private sectors, including … the responsibility of workers to organize unions for collective bargaining with employers regarding wages, benefits and working conditions, and to participate in efforts further to democratize, reform and expand the labor movement domestically and abroad.”
We the People have so much to thank unions for — and it’s a shame that so relatively few know the story of how selfless union workers even gave their lives to put into practice our First Amendment right to freely associate in labor unions and in doing so created The Great American Middle Class. Unionized workers gained equitable and fair incomes not only for themselves but also for non-unionized workers whose companies raised wages and provided benefits comparable to unionized companies in order to retain good employees and to avoid being unionized. Those good wages not only created The Great American Middle Class but also created our consumer-based economy. To bring back the financial health and strength of the Middle Class that our economy needs to grow, we must bring back union strength and membership.
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Better to be unseemly than bankrupt.
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“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
Amen
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“The greatest human power”
The Greatest human power
Is power to withhold
Which makes the Titans cower
A wonder to behold
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